Electrical Installation Costs

[murdock]

talking about pricing...i remeber eca meetings in the old days when everyone would say yeah yeah put prices up...next day you quote and the prices are even lower...i can get a company to do work for me at R120 per hour...and i know these guys they are experienced and have been around for a while...how they do it i can only imagine they do not reegister with anything or anyone and they dont pay their staff the correct rates.

i agree about the plumbers pricing...nodody wants to do the kak jobs...so everyone becomes "an electrician" rather and flood the market and prices...whether they are labourers or semi skilled they all seem to apply for wark as electricans and when they dont get a job they quote against you and as you mentioned price wins every time...the customer complains then expects me to feel sorry for them when they try sell the house and i do the inspection...you always make more money stripping and replacing.

[Garin]

Veti by Major Tech

Hi Guys,

I'm new to the forum and have read a few interesting an informative topics.

I'm busy building a house and would like some input of the Veti modular switches and sockets. they seem to be a new brand and I would like to know if anyone has had any experience with the product.

Thanks
Garin

[AndyD]

Hi Garin, welcome to TFSA.

I don't have experience of the Veti modular range. From their website it looks similar to the Gewiss and Legrand range where the switch and socket modules clip together in a grid plate.

Have you priced them? What does it work out to for a double 16A socket and a 2-lever switch?.

[bergie]

talking of din breakers,i like the hager range from electromekanica.
the price isnt too bad either.
i see theres a copy of the samite breakers/earth leakages for sale.never used it yet and i cant remember the brand name ,but its dirt cheap.
i ,ve also used these conversion clips where you can install any din earth leakage relay in a samite board.comes with a small blank to close the gap up of the larger samite db covers.
oh and 1 more thing.please ,whoever installs a heinemann lcd timer in a din board.(it can be clipped in samite and din)dont go cut the din db cover bigger,just pull off the black surround and it will fit perfectly.

[Tracsec]

The veti modular looks good but with only 3 years of testing as indicated on their site i would be hesitant . Just imagine having a faliure of you whole house, i had this in my previous home when the new clipsal stuff came out, the whole development was done with this and most of the switches plugs and dimmers failed, it was a complete nightmare, if your brave enough and want to be the test subject then you should, but from personal experience building your new home is complicated enough , you dont need another problem on your back

As for the Din switches these are great, Im having Gewiss Din breakers installed in both the upstairs and downstairs dbs, CBI samite is just too expensive for what they are.

[Garin]

Thanks for the information guys.

Yes I do agree they do look very nice. I've not priced the Veti range yet but was told it will come in at the same price as the Clipsal S2000 range. Waiting for confirmation on this. Website price for Veti 16A double socket is R130.

If I do not select the Veti Range i'm considering upgrading to the Clipsal S3000 range all depending on the price difference between the S2000 & S3000.

Any comments on the S3000 range?

[murdock]

get prices from your electrical contractor...i supply double socket outlets to my customers with a 25 % mark up...cheaper than they can buy them....some customers go buy plugs themselves and as an example the last customer who did this...purchased plugs for R 128 and i would have sold them to the customer for R48...if i had known the customer was prepared to pay that much i could have taken my list price and added a little something on

[AndyD]

talking of din breakers,i like the hager range from electromekanica.
the price isnt too bad either.

The Hager range isn't bad, they do better than most makes under high ambient temperatures which can cause nuisance tripping with breakers from some manufacturers.

i see theres a copy of the samite breakers/earth leakages for sale.never used it yet and i cant remember the brand name ,but its dirt cheap.
i ,ve also used these conversion clips where you can install any din earth leakage relay in a samite board.comes with a small blank to close the gap up of the larger samite db covers.
oh and 1 more thing.please ,whoever installs a heinemann lcd timer in a din board.(it can be clipped in samite and din)dont go cut the din db cover bigger,just pull off the black surround and it will fit perfectly.

Thanks for the info.

As for the Din switches these are great, Im having Gewiss Din breakers installed in both the upstairs and downstairs dbs, CBI samite is just too expensive for what they are.

Gewiss have proved pretty reliable and very reasonably priced. I still use Merlin Gerin for most applications.

Website price for Veti 16A double socket is R130.

Sounds pretty expensive. Is that a wholesale price or end user retail? VAT inclusive or not?

If I do not select the Veti Range i'm considering upgrading to the Clipsal S3000 range all depending on the price difference between the S2000 & S3000.

Any comments on the S3000 range?

I haven't specifically used much Clipsal S3000 range. The problem I find with all these modular ranges is that many of them look ridiculous when mounted vertically. This means in most premises you have to dig out every flush mount box and fit new ones which are horizontally oriented. This works out expensive after plastering and repainting.

The other problem is because of their modular nature the ordering of all the parts can be very complicated. Sometimes it's not easy to figure out which grid plate is best for certain configurations especially when you start with thermostats, dimmers and data outlets.

Make sure that whoever you order from is familiar with the product unless they have everything in stock and you can 'dry-assemble' everything on the counter before you buy it.

[Tracsec]

I've done the exercise on the S3000, really not worth it in my opinion (price wise) rather spend the extra money on a fancy kitchen or bathroom accessories. I totaly agree with Andy on the Vertical mounting and modular issues, Im old school and have always know switches to be mounted horizontally, vertical just doesnt feel right for me and looks strange, the other problem is you cant fit as many switches into a box with vertical S3000 as you can with the horizontal S2000 for example, this has considerable cost savings when building in a new home, would of went for gewiss switches to compliment the din breakers but had the same problem of vertical installation and only up to 3 switches per plate, i have at least 4 to 5 switches per plate for various lighting such as wall ,ceiling ,zone and specific feature lighting so 3switches per plate just wasnt enough unless i installed extra boxes.

Its was hard enough trying to get my electrican to get all the standard boxes around the rooms and counter tops the same exact height (i know its not the easiest of things) two vertical boxes next too each other would need gps co ordinates to get right and look good.

[AndyD]

The veti modular looks good but with only 3 years of testing as indicated on their site .....

I just received an invitation for the launch of the Veti range so I doubt they have three years site testing in this country. They're being distributed by Major Tech and are being pitched as an alternative to the Clipsal S3000 range reading between the lines of the glossy literature they sent me.

This is the local web page on the majortech site. http://www.major-tech.com/veti/

[murdock]

something to be careful of is the regulations with regards to what you can fit as a module...ie data point and socket outlet on the same plate...they should have made them that the the data and electrical couldnt fit on the same plate...but as per south african standards...someone must have over looked that issue as usual.

[Garin]

S3000 prices

Hi Guys,

Can you please give me a general indication of prices for these items?
And best place for the public to purchase these items in Pretoria/JHB.

I need the following from the Clipsal S3000 range.

16 x double plugs (ST3025WE)
3 x single plugs (ST3015WE)

15 x single level light switch (S3041/2/3AVWE) Vertical mount
7 x double level light switch (S3042/2/3AVWE) Vertical mount
1 x triple level light switch (S3043/2/3AVWE) Vertical mount

Thanks
Garin

[NatH12]

Hi all. I am new to the forum. Could someone provide me with the general cost of installing downlighter and 1 dimmer switch. I have received a quote for installing 12 downlighters at the cost of R 5700. I have purchased all fittings and globes etc separately. Is this an extreme cost or is it realistic?
thanks

[AndyD]

Normally I wouldn't attempt to answer this kind of question because without seeing the job first hand it's impossible but today I charged a customer more than double that amount to replace one globe in one light fitting so your question made me smile. The quote could be high or it could be reasonable, like I mentioned it's impossible to say if it's unnecessarily expensive without seeing the job. Why not just get another quote or two from other contractors and compare them?

[Nqobany]

Murdock can you please senf me your contact details to nqobany@gmail.com or 0780054507 WhatsApp. I need more info on how to determine the cost for new house wiring installation from chasing wall, wiring etc and how much each plug point, light and DB etc to install. Because I have no idea about how to determine costs for completely house wiring please, because now I am busy doing wireman's license and I want to start Electrical contractor. I have S4 Electrical Power Engineering from Durban University of Technology graduated last year still unemployed that why I want to start my own business and poor economy for our country as well. Regard Nqobay